Saturday, October 25, 2008

Chickadees and titmice are foraging together in flocks again. They examine bark, buds, and leaves for insects. The chickadees hang upside down from leaves while the titmice call and clean their beaks. When I look at plants, I often don't see the insects that the birds must.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Here’s some Sourland Mountain magic: the first year we stopped mowing our lawn, four native orchids volunteered in our little meadow. Just two years later, our wildflower season begins with the diminutive spring beauty and ends with the purples, whites and yellows of the fall asters. The process was simple, and the results are magnificent.

Lawns have become so common as to seem innocuous to most of us. However, lawn has an interesting history as a decadent statement. Once upon a time, European nobility used vast lawns to flaunt the amount of unproductive land they could afford to keep. Throughout the last century, we’ve all aspired to make that same aristocratic statement, keeping both our sources of food, and the natural world, as distant as possible. But simple decadence has turned into a devastating addiction. Americans now maintain over 30 million acres of lawn; we use 70 million pounds of pesticides on them per year; and 30% of the water consumed on the East Coast goes to watering them. Lawns contribute to erosion and flooding events, and the mowers and blowers we use to maintain them are horrible polluters, emitting 10 to 34 times more hydrocarbon per hour than a typical car.

Converting part or all of your lawn to a meadow is an easy way to surround yourself with beauty and intricacy. It’s also a good way to save money, time, and the environment.

Here are three ways to create a meadow. I’ve organized them in order of increasing commitment. Each requires mowing just once a year, or even every other year, to prevent a shrub habitat from developing.

1. The Easy MeadowSelect an area of your lawn that does not get a lot of foot traffic, and stop mowing it. You can introduce seeds of native grasses and wildflowers, if you like. Over time, your young meadow will recruit from nearby sources and grow in diversity. If your meadow is dominated by one type of plant, or if alien plant species become a problem, consider one of the ways below.

2. The Caretaker’s MeadowSet up your meadow, as above. Then, plan some daytrips to places with beautiful native meadows: Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, just below New Hope, PA, is surpassingly beautiful. Ask about wildflowers and grasses you like, and introduce them to your meadow, as seed, plugs, or from potted plants. You will be working as nature’s gardener, hastening diversity and increasing the beauty of your meadow.

As seasons change and new plants arrive, your meadow will be a great and patient teacher. Get a wildflower guide and learn your plants as the bloom. As you learn, weed out non-native species to create the richest habitat.

3. Building an Ecosystem from ScratchYoung meadows sprung from turfgrass are sometimes slow to loosen the grip of those non-native grasses. For those who wish to recreate the native prairies that once ranged into New Jersey, the reintroduction of many signature species may be necessary.

To start from a blank slate, three methods are commonly used: disking, herbicide, or controlled burns. A seed mix containing 80% native grasses and 20% forbs (wildflowers) should be sown over the cleared site, to create a stable and diverse ecosystem.

You can use your old mower to maintain paths through your meadow. If the annual mow is too much of a strain for it, consider hiring a local farmer or landscaper to cut your meadow after the first hard frost and before spring growth begins. One can also mow once every other year, leaving seed heads to disperse seeds, and leaving food for birds and other winter wildlife.

All of the above are easily grown from seed, will spread on their own, and are widely available. Beware of generic “meadow mix” seed mixes which frequently contain few if any native species, and many imported invasives like dame’s rocket.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I thought it would be appropriate to start off by talking about hickories, in honor of our namesake the Shagbark. On the Sourland Mountain, we have four different species of Hickory: Shagbark, Pignut, Mockernut, and Bitternut. They can be tough to identify, especially when the nearest leaves and buds are 50 feet above you.

I gave myself a photographic mission a little while back: observe and take pictures of our different native hickories. Here's a little guide for distinguishing between them.

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) Bark tight and orderly, not as two-dimensional as Bitternut, occasional exfoliating, but in much narrower strips than Shagbark. Usually 5 leaflets, sometimes 7 are present. Leaves smooth and hairless. Fruit is small with thin husk. Frequent in upland areas. Bark and bud pictured below.

Bitternut Hickory (Carya cordiformis) Naked yellow buds are striking and diagnostic. Its 7 to 9 leaflets are generally narrower than other hickories'. Bark is very tightly appressed to the trunk, almost two-dimensional. Common in floodplains and rich woods. Bark and bud pictured below.

About Me

Rachel Mackow is a photographer and writer who resides on a ridge in the New Jersey Highlands with her husband and son. She and her husband, Jared, co-own Wild Ridge Plants, a native plant nursery. They offer classes about the uses of wild plants and their stewardship. Contact - rachel [@] wildridgeplants.com